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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spring — the season
  3. game — wild animals
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. net — for catching
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. chest — of your body
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. net — after costs
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. net — in sport
  20. wind — moving air
  21. chest — a box
  22. fall — to drop
  23. game — a match
  24. wind — moving air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com